Another possibility would be to have the standards in front of the pike block, on a strip, along with some command minis; this way you can swap them out if you want to use the same pike block in a different period (ie both ECW and TYW). What's the frontage of the units?

I've debated moveable command bases- not a bad idea! I wish I had done so from the get-go; the bases with integral flags made developing the line quite difficult, as a single design issue would have to be corrected on all 30 infantry pieces. If I did it again I would just use my Universal Infantry strips: 20mm and 30mm troop blocks on long bases that the modeller cuts to size. Small breaks between the stands of troops either allow scissors to get in or represent breaks between companies. My 30mm troop clusters have exactly 100 figures, so this would be historically correct even at 1:1. Hindsight is 20/20.

That's one of the intriguing things about this project; it lets you picture the real nuts and bolts of how these formations fought. From what I gather, what would happen is that if treated by horse the shot would collapse into a ring around the outside of the pike, and the pike would be lowered past the shot. The shot would then fight from inside the protection of the pikes. Since artillery was still pretty crude compared to the coming centuries this was a reasonably safe formation, and might possibly have been able to advance. There's an excellent woodcut on a website somewhere that shows how it worked, but I can't find it now…